Wheaton Academy coach Andy Euler kept telling his players to look inside.
They finally listened with 1 minute 20 seconds to play in Thursday night’s Class A regional semifinal showdown with Driscoll. That’s when junior guard Dan Aloisio took a feed from teammate Quinn O’Malley under the basket and banked it home for the game-winner in a 50-48 victory.
“We were just running our offense–our passing-game offense–and we were looking for that,” said Euler, whose team improved to 22-5 and takes on host Lisle in Friday’s regional championship game. “We were telling them all night that it was open, and at the end it worked.”
The bucket by Aloisio gave the Warriors a 49-48 lead, their first since the 6:09 mark of the final quarter. He added a free throw with 28 seconds left to finish with a game-high 20 points.
Jeff Brooke added 12 for Wheaton Academy. Wes Pressard and Paul Pedi each had 14 points for Driscoll (20-8).
Jack McCarthy.
Public League playoffs
Crane 103, Wells 52: Carl Marshall scored 26 points to lead the No. 6 Cougars (19-7) to the easy victory. Lorenzo Thompson had 18 points and 13 rebounds, and Tremel Gilot added 18 points for Crane.
Farragut 101, Best Practice 46: Courtney McGarry had 30 points, including seven three-pointers, as the No. 7 Admirals (18-9) romped. Elliott Poole added 17 points for Farragut.
Manley 72, Orr 62: Marcus Jackson scored 21 points and Al Stewart added 19 to lead the No. 16 Wildcats (22-5). Manley led 50-43 after three quarters and opened the fourth on a 7-1 run to break the game open.
Carver 87, Calumet 73: Johnny Barnette had 31 points and 18 rebounds to lead Carver (12-12). Cornelius Bardney added 20 points and eight rebounds.
Fenger 79, Chicago Vocational 63: Jovan Armstrong had 26 points and made five three-pointers, and Michael Bradley added 20 points, six steals and seven assists to lead the Titans (15-11).
Marshall 71, Flower 64: David Hilliard had 29 points and 12 rebounds for Marshall (9-16).
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Morgan Park 98, Bowen 49: Kevin Bond scored 19 points to lead four players in double figures for the defending Public League champion Mustangs (15-12). Duran Taylor added 17 points, Marcus Arnold 14 and Jeremy Nixon 12 for the winners.
Washington 58, Corliss 50: Courtney Horton scored 27 points and Tiras Prothro had 18 points and nine rebounds as the Minutemen (12-15) rallied from a nine-point deficit early in the fourth quarter.
Corliss (15-8) built a 45-36 lead with 6:48 left thanks to its pressure defense, but Washington outscored Corliss 22-5 the rest of the way. Prothro had eight of his points in the fourth to lead the charge.
Kenneth Johnson led Corliss with 15 points and seven steals.
Class AA regular season
Niles West 65, New Trier 64 (OT): Jarryd Loyd made three free throws with 2.7 seconds left to give the Wolves (12-11, 5-5) the upset of the No. 10 Trevians in the Central Suburban South. New Trier’s Brett Sortal fouled Loyd on a three-point attempt.
Loyd, who had a game-high 18 points, made a jumper with 20 seconds left in regulation to tie the game at 57-57.
Sead Odzic had 15 points, Alex Filin 11 and Jimmy Thengil 10 for Niles West.
New Trier (16-6, 8-2) opened the game on an 8-0 run, but Niles West rallied and kept the game close throughout. Sortal’s 14 points and Ted Rosinski’s 13 led the Trevians.